The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No.2 in Dong Anh district, one of Hanoi’s frontline hospitals for the Covid-19 fight, will be under lockdown for another seven days, until May 26, according to the Ministry of Health.

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi has been locked down since May 5. Photo: Ngo Nhung

The hospital has been under lockdown since May 5 as it was a major coronavirus outbreak. Its blockade is supposed to end on May 19, after a 14-day quarantine. However, it is extended to curb the spread of the disease and protect its medical workers.

The lockdown means that the hospital would not receive patients. All employees of the hospital have been tested for Covid-19. More tests have to be done before the result is confirmed.

Among the facilities that have been treating Covid-19 patients, the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases No.2 has received the largest number of patients, more than 440. Among them, 22 Covid-19 patients are seriously-ill and need to be on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), this number is four times higher than in three previous outbreaks in Vietnam.

Tran Thi Nhi Ha, director of the Hanoi health department, said no hospital employee would be allowed to go out, but treatment for hospitalized Covid-19 patients will continue. Other hospitals will handle future cases, and makeshift hospitals might be deployed for the purpose as well.

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases has been responsible for handling all Covid-19 cases in the north since the nation’s first outbreak early last year. Nearly 1,000 patients have been treated in the hospital so far.

More than three weeks since the start of the latest wave, Vietnam has recorded 1,836 cases in 30 cities and provinces and five fatalities.